Nick Cave is still the best frontman in the world

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
March 22, 2013
Metropolis, Montreal

The faithful flocked to worship at the dark alter of Father Nick Cave last night, at a beyond sold-out Metropolis gig. From overheard snippets of conversation, some made the pilgrimage from as far away from New York and Vancouver. Luckily for the 2,000 disciples in the crowd, Cave and his fallen alter-boys The Bad Seeds put on a spellbinding 2-hour show, that constantly oscillated in mood from a simmering menace to an out-and-out barnburner.

New York’s Sharon Van Etten opened the show with a 45-minute set of sparse and haunting songs that brought to mind a combination of early Liz Phair and PJ Harvey. Accompanied only by a drummer and her guitar, her voice luckily carried through the din of the room, aided by some of the best sound the venue has had in some time.  In contrast to her often-somber material, Van Etten was chatty and self-deprecating between songs, admitting she was “shitting herself” for being on tour with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Van Etten obviously made an impression however, as she was employed as one of the two female backup singers for a solid chunk of Cave’s set.

Beginning with four tracks off their relatively subdued 15^th (!) album “Push the Sky Away”, Cave was the model of restraint, prancing the edge of the stage and seemingly biding his time until the explosive coda of “Jubilee Street”, when his Jagger-like flailing arms and karate kicks were finally unleashed. His patented wild preacher persona was then out in full for “From Her to Eternity”, which took on a near industrial-level dirge live.

As any devotee will tell you, the front of the stage is the only spot to fully appreciate Cave’s quirky charms.  There is simply no way to witness Cave’s intense focus on the audience from the back of a cavernous hall.  Crouching from the lip of the stage while grabbing audience members’ clasped hands (you can bet that there will be a multitude of unwashed hands tomorrow) and singing/screaming directly in their faces, or cutting down an overzealous fan for making him flub the lyrics, the first rows of the floor were Cave’s prey throughout the show.

The entire set was expertly paced between Cave’s balladeer moments (“Into My Arms”, one of a few tracks he performed at the piano), and the outright punk assault of songs like “Jack the Ripper“, that reached Swans-like levels of noise.

Throughout, Cave often appeared as a conductor of the band, with his frantic arm movements, quick nods and shouts to the band, especially with long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis. With Ellis hunched over the violin on tracks like “The Weeping Song”, it wasn’t hard to imagine the Bad Seeds as the Titanic band, if the Titanic was sinking straight down to hell.

“Push the Sky Away” served as a great comedown of a closer, with Cave offering a rare moment of Fatherly advice to his followers; “And if your friends think that you should do it different / And if they think that you should do it the same / You’ve got to just keep on pushing.”

“God is in the House” indeed.

Setlist

We No Who U R
Jubilee Street
Wide Lovely Eyes
Higgs Boson Blues
From Her to Eternity
Red Right Hand
Into My Arms
Jack the Ripper
Deanna
Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
God Is in the House
The Weeping Song
The Mercy Seat
Stagger Lee

Encore:

Tupelo
Push the Sky Away